This NO BAKE Turtle Cheesecake is made with a chocolate cookie crust, salted caramel pecan layer, luscious cheesecake layer and a thin layer of chocolate ganache. Top it with whipped cream, caramel and pecans for a decadent treat!
If you’ve been around here for a little while now, you know I have a bit of a sweet tooth, and that sweet tooth is especially crazy about cheesecake.
Some of my favorites so far are this No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake, No Bake Oreo Cheesecake recipe and this No Bake Lemon Cheesecake.
This Turtle Cheesecake has pretty much all of my other favorite things:
- cream cheese
- salted caramel
- chocolate
I’ll be honest and say I can give or take the nuts, but I love the crunch they add to that gooey caramel layer in this Turtle Cheesecake!
I originally shared this cheesecake recipe in December of 2015 so it was in desperate need of an update, but I actually didn’t change that much.
I tried putting the caramel layer on top of the cheesecake, but that was a disaster.
I switched up the caramel to make this recipe even more foolproof and added a thicker cheesecake layer, but in reality, what I discovered was that this Turtle Cheesecake recipe was pretty amazing to begin with.
Here are some tips to make sure you see success!
Tips for making No Bake Turtle Cheesecake:
- I played with this recipe a lot, and though I like to give wiggle room for creativity, when I wiggled this recipe too much, it ended in disaster. A really, really delicious disaster, but it really was a mess. I retested this recipe 3 times just to end up not changing much at all.
- The crust: the crust can be baked or not baked. I find that the chocolate baking crumbs become more bitter during baking, so I prefer it unbaked. If you want, you can bake it for 10 minutes at 350 degrees F and it will be firmer and hold up slightly better.
- Cream cheese: use full fat cream cheese, as it has less water content and will hold up better than low fat cream cheese.
- Cream: heavy whipping cream is 30-36% fat. Any other cream will not work, it will not whip and you will have cheesecake soup 😉
- Caramels: you want the individually wrapped chewy caramel candies for this recipe. Please check out the recipe video to see which ones!
- Whip it good: please do not try to make this without an electric mixer. You need the power and speed to whip it to stiff peaks!
Variations on this Turtle Cheesecake:
- Nut free: you can easily leave out the pecans for a nut free version, just check all of your package ingredients before using.
- You can use gluten free chocolate sandwich cookies for the crust to make this cheesecake gluten free.
- Not big on chocolate? You can skip the ganache and opt instead for a caramel and chocolate drizzle to finish.
More Cheesecake recipes you’ll love!
- No Bake Nanaimo Bar Cheesecake
- Lemon Cheesecake Bars
- Easy Cheesecake Recipe
- Easy Key Lime Cheesecake
*This post has been updated since its original posting in December 2015
No Bake Turtle Cheesecake
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 1/2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs like Oreo or similar
- 1/2 cup butter melted
Caramel:
- 30 wrapped chewy caramel candies (I use Kraft) – 250g
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon salt (depending on how salty you like your caramel)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Cheesecake:
- 24 oz cream cheese, room temperature 3 packages, 750g
- 1 1/2 cups powdered icing sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Ganache:
- 1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate or chips 50g
- 1/3 cup milk or cream
- Optional: caramel sauce, whipped cream and pecans for garnish
Instructions
- Line a 9" Springform pan with parchment paper, pinching it in between the bottom and the outer ring. This isn't necessary but will allow for easy removal.
Crust
- Combine cookie crumbs and butter. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan evenly.
Caramel
- In a medium pan, combine caramels and cream. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until completely smooth and melted.
- Stir in pecans and pour into crust. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes until firm/dry to the touch.
Cheesecake
- With an electric mixer, beat cream cheese until smooth. Add powdered sugar and vanilla and beat until smooth and combined.
- Add cream, and beat on low until incorporated, then high until thickened and fluffy (should nearly hold stiff peaks when you pull the beaters out of the bowl)
- Spread over cooled caramel in pan. Refrigerate for 1-2 hours or until nearly set.
Ganache
- Combine chocolate and cream in a small pan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth.
- Spread over cheesecake layer evenly.
- Refrigerate a minimum of 6 hours, or overnight for best results. Serve with garnishes as desired.
Nutrition Information
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kim strom says
the caramel was all runny, even when i froze it… why is that?
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Kim! It sounds like it needed to be cooked just a little longer.
kim strom says
when refrigerating it, should it be covered?
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Kim! I would say yes.
Jeanne says
Can this be made as individual cupcakes ?
The Recipe Rebel says
Hi Jeanne! You probably could, I just haven’t tried it myself. If you decide to experiment, let me know how it goes!
Crystal says
If I reduce the amount of powdered sugar will it still set up correctly?
Ashley Fehr says
You can reduce it by some but I wouldn’t reduce it by a lot. You can whip the cream separately to help it hold up
Crystal says
I am planning to use half the powdered sugar . Hopefully it works !
Georgia Lampton says
I am going to make this recipe, but how do I make make my whipped cream look like yours for decorating. It tastes so good but it never stands up pretty?
Ashley Fehr says
Hi Georgia! Here is my recipe for whipped cream:https://www.thereciperebel.com/whipped-cream/
Georgia Lampton says
Thank you so much 😊😊😊
Betty says
1/3 c. Choc chips and 1/3 c milk was very runny. Added a bunch more chips to get it thick enough.
Ashley Fehr says
How thick you want it will depend on your tastes, for sure 🙂 I like it to be sliceable after chilling without snapping
Jill Goodkey says
I tried the recipe and it was sooo good but the filling did not fully set. Are you suppose to whip the cream before adding it to the cream cheese filling.
Ashley Fehr says
The cream shouldn’t need to be whipped first. It is a softer, creamy cheesecake but it should be set solid enough to slice. I would just make sure you whip the filling until thickened and fluffy
Ariana says
Can I use homemade caramel sauce for this recipe?
Ashley Fehr says
Not for the bottom layer as it won’t be thick enough and will leak when the cheesecake is cut. You can drizzle it on top though.